


A Familiar Evening

by protectginozasquad



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluffy, roy is a bad dogsitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 00:30:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4458422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protectginozasquad/pseuds/protectginozasquad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Black Hayate is just a puppy, and Riza leaves him in Roy's care for a few hours.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Familiar Evening

He had outdone himself this time. The first lieutenant was sure to be furious with him. Hell, he was furious with himself. She might actually kill him.

"Hayate," Roy hissed. "This isn't funny." 

Here he was, entrusted with Hawkeye's one and only soft spot, her precious child, her dog, Black Hayate. He didn't understand how this had happened. Her apartment was so small, where could the puppy have gone?

It was only last week when Fuery had brought the little black dog into the office. He was practically in tears, begging someone to take him home. Fuery was a little too softhearted, in Roy's opinion, although this was one characteristic that made him invaluable to the team. They needed some sort of conscience, at least one that was a little less fearsome than Hawkeye, who served as more of a fearful dictator than anything else. 

The dog had seemed to soften the lieutenant. Roy saw in her eyes when she looked at the little dog something that he rarely saw in her, and something he wanted to see more of: affection. 

The lieutenant's one stipulation was that, until Hayate grew up a little bit, he was not to be left alone, and the men were required to lend their support when she needed to be away from the apartment.

And so it was that Roy found himself in Hawkeye's apartment, frantically scrambling to find the puppy, glancing at the clock in fear of the lieutenant's possible reappearance at any moment. She had given the colonel few details about the nature of her outing. She had simply said that she needed to go out for an hour or two, and it was Roy's turn in the rotation to watch Hayate.

"I trust you can handle that small amount of responsibility, can't you, sir?" she had asked when she left, lazily putting her hands on her hips to display the smallest bit of her holstered gun.

Yes, it was fault. Yes, he should have been paying closer attention. 

Who could blame him? It was the impossible opportunity to learn more about the lieutenant, Hawkeye, Riza, his precious subordinate, his one and only soft spot... 

He was too distracted by the odds and ends his mind was trying to memorize about her from her sacred apartment space. One moment, Hayate was next to him (Roy liked to think that Hayate was helping him out) and then the next moment, he was gone. In dismay, Roy had searched under, behind, and around every piece of furniture and inside every closet. The front door was still firmly shut, which Roy found some solace in, knowing Hayate was at least still somewhere in the apartment.

The lieutenant's bedroom door was open, which Roy hadn't noticed earlier. He had intended to stay away from that room in particular, to respect her privacy, or something. But if Hayate was hiding and being mischievous in there surely Riza, ahem, the lieutenant couldn't blame him for looking. 

He went in and saw her undisturbed abode. A simple blue bedspread covered her queen sized bed. A queen sized bed for my queen. Plenty of space for more than one person... No, this was not the time to be thinking something so frivolous. There was a puppy that needed to be found. He pulled his eyes away from the pillows, where he was sure, if he tried, he could smell the scent that was beautifully and uniquely hers, and got down on his hands and knees and peered underneath the bed. 

"Hayate... Where the hell are you?"

"Colonel?" 

He froze. Uh oh.

"What are you doing in here?" 

She was like an assassin. She snuck in silently, and was here to kill him. 

"L-lieutenant! I didn't know you would be home so soon!" He jumped up, praying for Hayate to emerge from under the bed or inside the closet, anywhere that might justify his presence in Riza's room. 

"I think Hayate was looking for you," she said. The dog materialized at her side, looking happy to be near his master once again. 

Traitor, Roy thought at him bitterly.

Roy met Riza's eyes, and he felt his heart melt as he looked into those deep brown eyes. He was thanking all the powers that be she hadn't pulled her gun out yet. "I, uh, was looking for..." Now that Hayate had reappeared, Roy certainly couldn't tell Hawkeye that he had been searching for him. His voice trailed off, and he found himself totally at a loss for words. He opened and shut his mouth a few times, and then simply looked at her helplessly.

"Sir?" Riza cocked her head and looked at him in amused confusion. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Fine, fine, I'm just fine, lieutenant. Thanks for your concern. I'm sure I have some paperwork to finish at home, so I'll be going now..." He made a move to pass her through the doorway. To his surprise, she made no move to get out of his way.

"Paperwork? At home? Now I know that you aren't feeling well." I probably should have thought of something more believable, he thought. 

"Come sit down, Colonel. Hayate seems to like it when you're here. Unless you have someplace to be? I know you've been busy with those informants lately."

"Ugh, lieutenant, you know I hardly enjoy that at all." 

For some reason, Riza's eyebrows lifted at the statement, and the ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She seemed pleased to hear that Roy wasn't keen on seeing his informants. Roy hoped desperately to himself that this was a sign of her true feelings. 

But he couldn't seem too eager. So he protested. 

"Lieutenant, you need to let me out." 

She pointed a finger into his chest and spoke to him sternly. "I don't need to do anything. This is my apartment. Unless that's an order?" 

Roy was electrified by the tiny bit of contact her finger to his chest afforded him. He tried not to let it distract him. 

He sighed, hoping to sound mildly annoyed, although, in truth, he would love nothing more than to spend some extra time in Riza's home. "Of course it's not an order. All right, lieutenant, I'll stay for a while." 

She smiled. It was dazzling, in a reserved and charming way that only Riza Hawkeye could have. "I'm about to make some dinner, would you like to have some?" 

"It doesn't seem like you're giving me much of a choice," Roy said. 

"I suppose not, sir. I'm going to make soup. Beef or chicken?" 

The colonel was surprised. "You want my opinion?" 

"Of course," Riza replied. "I have both and it's not often I get to cook for someone else. So, which will it be?" 

"Chicken, I guess," Roy said tentatively. This wasn't like the lieutenant at all, this softness, this consideration. Not that Riza was a cold woman, but at the office and in the field she was all business, all the time. 

"Come sit in the kitchen while I cook. You can light the stove for me. You've got your gloves, right?" 

"Of course I do!" Roy was happy to have something to do with his hands, and to be useful in some way in the situation. He came to the kitchen and sat at the table, snapped his fingers and made quick work of lighting the stove. 

The rest of the night passed easily. Roy found himself relaxing as the smells from Riza's cooking wafted through the air. 

He realized that the feeling of ease was familiar, memorable. He was reminded of their time spent together at her father's house as they both grew up. It was long ago in his memory, buried under the weight of memories of training and Ishval. But the easy conversation he and Riza started to share reminded him of better days, and he found himself gazing at her happily. 

It was nice, the way they shared an evening, simply and genuinely. Just like they were ordinary people.

When the soup was done, they sat at her table and shared a loaf of bread between them with their bowls of soup. 

"Riza?" It had been years since he used her given name. But the ease of the night and the informality of their dinner brought it back to him. 

"What is it, Colonel?" 

"First of all, can you just call me Roy?" 

"I hardly think that's appropriate," she said, but added, "Roy," with a small smile. 

Hearing his name on her lips was enough to keep him from thinking straight. Somehow, he managed to get a sentence out: "I was just thinking about the first night I stayed with you back at your father's place." 

Riza smiled sadly. "We were so different then, don't you think?" 

Roy wondered what she meant. 

"I don't know, Riza, this seems to remind me of the first dinner I had with you. We had a lot of dinners together after that, too. I mean," he braced himself. "Lots of things, bad things, have happened since then, but I like to think we are the same people now as we were then. We were... friends, you know? Don't you think we still are?" 

Riza's smile brightened slightly. 

"Friends, hm? I suppose I would call us that." 

Roy sighed inwardly, amazed at the different affirmations he was getting from his lieutenant that night.

Roy did the dishes for Riza and snapped to light a fire in her hearth. 

"I'll be off, then," he said as he stood up from the table and moved towards the door. She followed him and opened it for him. 

"Thanks again for watching Hayate... and for staying for dinner. Maybe we can do it again next time you watch him. What do you think, Roy?" 

His heartbeat sped up ever so slightly. "I would love that." 

"All right, Colonel, I'll see you at work tomorrow." 

Roy smiled. "Yes, I'll see you tomorrow, Lieutenant."


End file.
